http://ychittaranjan.wordpress.com/2009/09/10/music-review-blue/
Music Review – Blue
Posted by: Chittaranjan on: September 10, 2009
This was one album every Bollywood music buff was eagerly awaiting for (well,
this and Radio). Its the OST of the upcoming movie Blue, with music by none
other than the Oscar-winning maestro – A.R.Rahman. In his own words, “…is my
first film after the Oscars. So expectations are scary”. Well, expectations are
always high when it comes to Rahman’s music…aren’t they?
The soundtrack of Blue kicks off with the foot-tapping and
soon-to-be-on-everyone’s-lips Chiggy Wiggy, marking the Bollywood debut of
Kylie Minogue. The song is quite good in Kylie’s hands vocals but gets kinda
mediocre with Sonu Nigam’s
entrance. The Anglo-Punjabi beats and lyrics in the song don’t quite
gel and the fun goes off once Kylie is relegated to the background by
Sonu…and probably Akshay as well. I wish filmmakers would stop pushing
his ‘khiladi’ image in every nook and cranny of the movie! Aaj dil gustaakh hai
has already become a favourite. Its strummy beats and the vocals of Sukhwinder
Singh and Shreya Ghosal give it an instant lift. I presume it will be
picturized on Sanjay Dutt (dunno why…Sukhwinder’s vocals never seem to suit
him!)
Fiqrana is a travelogue-esque song and the healthy smattering of Urdu words
make one seem like its penned by Gulzar saab. Vijay Prakash does a swell job
with the vocals and Shreya Ghosal
ably supports him. The catchy background hook and the stop-n’-go
rendition of some of the lines stand out in this one. Could’ve done
done away with the electronic modulation of the voice though. Hope they
won’t ruin it by picturising it on Zayed Khan! Bhoola tujhe is the lone solo
track in the album and a pretty slow one at that. Dunno why but it reminded me
of (shudderrr…) Yuvvraaj! Probably the orchestra/opera esque setting of the
song. Rashid Ali croons it with his usual mellifluousness but won’t be a repeat
track for me. Shreya and Sonu team up for the seductive-sounding Rehnuma
with Sonu sounding pretty nasal at times and deep at others, and Shreya
trying hard to sound like Sunidhi! The beats and slow rendition make
me think it will be played out as a background track…maybe as some
dangerous shenanigans are played out underwater.
Yaar mila tha
is a number that one would scarcely associate with Rahman, what with it
sounding like a total item number and a raunchy one at that. An
electronically modulated Udit Narayan and trying-hard-to-be-Asha Madhushree
croon this one which has some rap at one step and some hip-hop at another…and
an irritating pom-pom sound in the middle of nowhere! Joins bhoola tujhe as a
non-repeat track. Rahman usually excels in theme songs (Rangeela, Taal et al)
so its no surprise that the Blue theme stands
out tall in the album. Probably no other music director has used a
melange of various artistes as well as Rahman (with the possible
exception of S-E-L) and in this track too he manages to fuse the rap of
Blaaze, the trance-y narration of Raqeeb Alam & Dilshad, the sensuous voices of
the Kakkar sisters and the Punjabi vocals of Jaspreet Singh with some pacy &
foot-tapping music…not to mention the eminently likeable shout-out of “Bu-LOO”
once in a while!
Overall, Blue might not be a chartbuster album (Radio
wins that award in my book) but as with any Rahman soundtrack, it grows
on you with repeat listening and I’m sure this one will too. Its pretty
surprising to see no less than five lyricists collaborating with Rahman
on an album; he usually prefers to work with a single person most of
the time but credit to Abbas Tyrewala, Mayur Puri, Rajat Arora, Raqeeb Alam &
Sukhwinder Singh for a good job. The lush locales, glossy production values, a
nearly A-list star cast and mind blowing action sequences coupled with the
music may turn Blue into a winner. Let’s wait n’ watch.
Pick of the lot: Fiqrana, Chiggy Wiggy & Blue Theme
